Natural Polymers in Tissue Engineering Applications

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of the natural origin polymers that are commercially available or currently being studied in different laboratories for tissue engineering applications, with some emphasis on the most widely studied systems. It describes their chemical structure, main properties, and potential applications within the field. The chapter helps in understanding the origin, structure, and properties of natural polymers used in tissue engineering applications. It identifies the characteristics that make natural polymers interesting for TE applications. Natural polymers are derived from renewable resources, namely from plants, animals and microorganisms, and are, therefore, widely distributed in nature. These materials exhibit a large diversity of unique rather complex structures. Tissue engineering offers the possibility to help in the regeneration of tissues damaged by disease or trauma and, in some cases, to create new tissues and replace failing or malfunctioning organs. Typically, this is achieved through the use of degradable biomaterials to either induce surrounding tissue and cell ingrowth or to serve as temporary scaffolds for transplanted cells to attach, grow, and maintain differentiated functions.